


Bat Seal of Approval

by wisia



Series: Worship Verse [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-03
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-17 15:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/553168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisia/pseuds/wisia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Kon gains the approval of Red Robin's family, unintentionally and intentionally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Damian

Kon knew he was going to have to meet Nightwing, Red Robin’s scary older brother, eventually. But he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to meet the man like this. Kon had snuck into Al’s apartment to leave some coffee beans he got when he was in Brazil – they had a disaster and who was Kon not to help? He was Superboy after all.

But, Kon wriggled uncomfortably, upon entering Red Robin’s apartment, he was subdued and tied to the kitchen chair.

Nightwing looked at him, not amused. He leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed.

“Are you incapable of knocking?”

And Kon couldn’t help the retort that came out of his mouth. “You bats do it all the time.”

“We do it well. Without being caught,” Nightwing said with a sneer on his face. “When you are capable of it, you may do so.”

Kon would have snorted, but Nightwing had a look on his face that seemed to scream, be silent, mortal. He watched as Nightwing cautiously picked up the bag of coffee beans Kon had. Nightwing opened the bag and sniffed it. He took one of the beans out and put it in his mouth, tasting it.

“This isn’t the best of coffee beans, but it’s adequate.” Nightwing appraised.

Of course, Kon opened his mouth again. “Not everyone is loaded.”

Nightwing shot him a look. And Kon closed his mouth.

“I hope you realize I have kryptonite with me.”

Kon swallowed hard as Nightwing tossed the bag onto the counter with a loud smack. That…even Batman didn’t carry kryptonite with him. And he tried not to squirm as Nightwing stepped closer to him.

“You will treat my brother right.”

Kon nodded feverishly. “I will, yes, I will.”

Then the lights were switched on. Red Robin looked at them curiously.

“D—Nightwing? Superboy?”

Nightwing inclined his head. “I’m leaving. I will approve of this relationship for now.”

Red Robin groaned. “I’m not dating him!”


	2. Bruce

“You are in my city again, Superboy. Without permission.”

And even though the voice sounded exasperated and tired, it still made Kon jumped. Because the voice was gravely, dark and grim.

Kon tried not to cringe as he turned to face the big bad Bat himself.

“Ah, hey Batman.” Kon attempted a weak smile, but it was kind of hard with the man looming, all black and dreadful. Even the cape was fluttering behind Batman in ripples. If Kon didn’t have the eyes he did, Batman would have blended into the shadows and the night sky perfectly.

All right. Who was he kidding? The Batman did and now he was here. So silent and quick, Kon didn’t even know it till it was too late.

Kon fidgeted as Batman leveled him with a stony look. His lips were strained tight, and Kon just knew he was in trouble.

“I’m sorry—I, uh,” Kon stuttered. How was he going to get out of this?

“You’ve been dating my son.” And there was just the slightest twitch in Batman’s shoulders. Okay, Kon was screwed. Going to get a kryptonite to the face. And he had to resist the urge to fly away as far as possible, except that wouldn’t work. Because Clark would just drag him straight back to talk to the man himself.

Like it was entirely Kon’s fault for sticking to Red Robin. (It was, but still…)

“Yes,” Kon answered bravely. Because if he was going to die, he’ll do it with a bang.

Batman looked Kon up and down. There was only slight twitch to Batman’s shoulders and it seemed the grim knight’s lips went even straighter and tighter.

“You still need permission to come into Gotham. Ask Red Robin for the comm link.”

Kon blinked.

And Batman was gone, already grappling away.

Wait, did he just get Batman’s approval?!


	3. Jason

Kon wasn’t sure if he liked the Red Hood or not. He heard of him but he didn’t really know much. Only that the man was Red Robin’s younger brother and Robin’s older brother. And shit, he was scary. Coming out of nowhere.

“You Superboy?” The man drawled out, and Kon nodded dumbly. How the hell did he find Kon? He was sure he was getting better at hiding and sneaking around Gotham.

Red Robin looked him up and down appraisingly.

“I heard you like my brother—that true?”

And it sounded so much like a threat. Kon could feel himself wanting to quiver. He was screwed, super screwed. Because this bucket head was probably going to tell Red Robin. And then they were going to have a kryptonite field day with his dead body. He hopes Clark gives him a nice funeral.

“Yes,” Kon said, sticking to the lie, and he jerked back when Red Hood reached into his pocket. To Kon’s relief it wasn’t a gun, and Red Hood laughed. He had a stack of photos in his hand and he thrust them into Kon's hands.

Kon looked at them, curious and bewildered. Why was he getting photos? His eyes widened.

They were all of Red Robin. In various states of undress. Still had the mask, but oh god..

“What?” Kon stammered and blushed violently. He turned his head to the side quickly, accidentally lasering a hole in the concrete. The Red Hood laughed again, slinging an arm over Kon’s shoulders.

“I like you, kid.” There was a pause. Then, “Let me tell you what he likes. He used to be a stalker, so he’s into real kinky things with cameras—actually, that’s probably a requirement for him…”


	4. Barbara

“Hello Superboy,” a computerized voice said.

“Whoa!”

Kon jerked away from his computer, keyboard crashing onto the ground where it cracked into an uneven half. There was a green mask floating on his screen, and Kon could totally hear the amusement in that voice. Yes, even if it was a robotic voice and the mask had no expression at all.

“What the hell did I do now?” Kon groaned. It had been a very bad week for him. One mess after another just kept hitting him. He didn’t even have a proper opportunity to bug Red.

This time the robotic voice laughed. That was creepy.

“Could—could you not laugh? It’s kind of freaking me out.”

The green mask actually vibrated on the screen as the anonymous owner tittered even more at Kon’s question.

“I’m sorry,” the voice said. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting you,” Kon shot back, annoyed. He leaned down and picked up his keyboard. How the hell was he going to do his homework now?

“So, Superboy—“

“You broke my keyboard.” Kon said, indignant. He examined the crack. Pa definitely wasn’t going to be happy about that.

“Uh-huh,” the voice brushed him off. “So, you want to date Red Robin?”

Kon eyed the green mask. It was still creepy to look at with the weird little blank pupil-less eyes, and—

“Yes,” Kon replied carefully. Because he was already this far in and he didn’t plan on dying anytime soon. Kon wasn’t keen on experiencing a kryptonite induced death.

“I see,” the voice said gravely.

“And who are you?” Kon wanted to know. Because really, how many family members did Red have? This was the fourth person Kon had to talk to already!

“Oracle.”

“Oh,” Kon said. “Oh!”

Kon freaked out slightly, and he dropped his ruined keyboard. Were all of Red Robin’s family badasses?

“How—how can I help you?” Kon asked lamely.

“Nothing,” Oracle clipped. “I just want to see the man who wants to date Red.”

“Okay,” Kon said slowly. “And?”

“Probation,” Oracle said decisively.

“What?”

“Probation. I’m not convinced.”

Kon stared. Finally he said, ‘fine. Whatever. I just need his approval, not yours.”

It was unthinkable for Kon to gain the approval of every single family member, right?

“Do you really think that?” Oracle asked. The robotic voice dropped into a level beyond creepy.

“Um…”

The green mask was replaced with various short clips of Red Robin’s family taking down villains and criminals. In the most brutal way possible. Up close, full view of the damage unleashed.

Kon gulped.

“I thought so,” Oracle said. “I’ll check back on you.”

There was a short pause.

“Excuse me. Situation just came up. Oracle out.”

Kon stared blankly at his screen.

“Wait! You own me a keyboard!”

Damnit! It was a bad week.


	5. Dick

Robin was a cheerful person. He was usually in a good mood and the fact he was in Kon’s room with an entirely serious face wasn’t a good thing. If Kon was smarter, he would have ran and just plain get out of there. As it was, he was trapped. In his room. With Robin. Looking at him.

“Kon, I need to talk to you.”

He cringed but nodded. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

With that, Robin shut the door firmly and took a seat at Kon’s desk, swiveling in the chair.

“Someone told me that you like my brother—Red Robin.”

And Kon really should have just run. He should have punched a hole into the wall and up, up and away.

“Where did you hear that?” Kon was proud that he managed to sound calm, but Robin had the keenest expression in the white out lens of his eyes. He wondered who the hell told Robin? Was it Cassie? Or Bart? They just wanted him to die, didn’t they?

“My brother,” Robin stated.

Oh yeah, screwed. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to follow the man around and cheered as he took out some baddies last week. Though personally, Kon would have loved his own personal cheering team.

“What do you plan to do about it?” And Robin was tapping a batarang against Kon’s desk in a steady rhythm, legs swinging in tandem.

“Uh…,” Kon stared. Maybe he took this entire liking Red Robin thing a bit far. “Date him?”

Robin frowned, and Kon had a feeling he was going to be stabbed right then and there with kryptonite.

“I plan to date him, okay. I’ve been sending him flowers and visiting him and…” Kon babbled on. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He really didn’t want to die.

And all of sudden Robin’s frown erupted into the widest crack your face in half smile. “Okay! I just want to know if you’re serious.”

Kon blinked. “Well, I—“

“It’s fine!” Robin grinned and jumped off the chair with a bounce. “Don’t worry about Batman!”

He handed Kon the batarang. “I give you the Official Bat Seal of Approval! Go ahead. Date my brother.”

Robin was still smiling as he left. “And remember if you make my brother cry, we’ll all get you. Have a nice day!”


	6. Cassandra and Stephanie

“Treat my brother right or I will hurt you.”

The infamous Black Bat delivered this sentence coolly and calmly, catching Kon during one of his side trip to Gotham to visit Tim. Well, this was actually Kon on the way out of Gotham. He had just seen Tim, and it was a happy ten minute that was now being derailed by this: The Black Bat and Batgirl.

However, Kon made the dumb mistake of laughing. Because the Black Bat was a pretty cute Asian chick, on the petite side and even if she could kick most villains’ asses, there was no way she could “hurt” him. Kon was Superboy. Seriously.

“I’ll treat him right,” Kon agreed, nodding absent mindedly. He was starting to get use to all this family visits and getting their approval. “But you can’t hurt me you know unless you got kryptonite.”

“Wanna bet?”

Batgirl stood to the side, a sweet smile creeping onto her face. She also looked pretty hot. Kon wondered if they ever did anything more together, but he had to concentrate.

“Uh, sure.”

Kon cracked his neck and stood in position. He was totally ready for this because there was no way she could get through his TTK. That protection was a force of nature and entirely awesome, and Kon loved every minute of his TTK. He could fly—and it seriously sucked when he didn’t have it for those few months when he lost his powers.

TWACK!

Kon blinked. That…actually hurt, and Kon put a hand to his forehead, entirely confused.

“What?”

He could feel the slightest throbbing as if a bruise was forming.

“You want to try again?” Batgirl asked. She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder, and that was totally a smirk on her face. Maybe she learned it from Tim.

“I—what?” Kon was still stumbling to process how he was hit.

The Black Bat merely smiled at him.

“Hurt him and I will hurt you. Okay?”

Kon didn’t answer, still dumb with being hit.

“Okay?” The Black Bat asked again, a stern look on her face. She lifted her hand up again in warning.

“Y-yes!” Kon stuttered. “I’ll—I won’t hurt him.”

“Good,” Batgirl said. “But you’re still not welcome in the family yet.”

“I’m not?” Kon stared, horrified.

Batgirl smacked him lightly on the shoulder (that didn’t hurt) and hurried off across to the next rooftop.

“You have to win in a rooftop tag against us. And no cheating!”


	7. Alfred

If there was anything to say about Tim’s family, it was that they were scary. And now that Kon realized he actually liked Tim (and knew the guy’s real name damnit!), Tim’s family wasn’t just scary. They were horrifying—like hell, run the other way, you stupid idiot. Because they were Bats. And they had like a shit ton of kryptonite probably stored away somewhere. Just to get him for the slightest thing. But Kon was lucky. He already gained all of their approval and blessings when he was joking about liking Tim. That meant he could pursue him without any misgiving and this time in truth and seriousness.

Or so he thought. There was one more person. And that one person was possibly more terrifying than the rest.

Kon came over to the Wayne Manor to hang out and stay the night. But he woke up early the next morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. He didn’t want to stay in his room, so he decided to just wander around in the hallway. He was surprised out of his skin when a voice addressed him suddenly as he examined a rather ugly portrait of a Victoria Wayne from 1760 in the hall.

“She was known for her elegant embroidery.”

“Ah, Al—Mr. Pennyworth, you scared the—scared me.” Kon stumbled over his words, trying not to curse in front of the man. Alfred Pennyworth didn’t even blink.

“I apologize, Mister Kent. I just happened to notice your perusal of Victoria Wayne. I thought you might enjoy hearing more about her.”

“No—yes, thank you. It was, um, interesting.” Kon tried to look grateful. He didn’t really speak to Mr. Pennyworth that often, and their first meeting was a disaster. He had called the man a butler, and the man was insulted.

“You are welcome,” Mr. Pennyworth said. “Would you care to join me outside in the garden?”

It wasn’t a question but a demand, and Kon just jerked his head into a nod. He followed him outside where they paused briefly by a small shed for Mr. Pennyworth to take up a shear and a basket. For five minutes, there was silence as Mr. Pennyworth carefully examined several rosebushes and snipped off a bloom here or there.

“Mister Kent,” Mr. Pennyworth said suddenly, “these roses are beautiful, are they not?”

“Uh,” Kon said. “Yes?”

Mr. Pennyworth inclined his head. “But these flowers do not last long. Their beauty is quite fleeting. Much like the people we know personally.”

“Right,” Kon said, but Mr. Pennyworth was studying him with a long pensive glance.

“They most certainly do not last if not take care of properly.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Kon shifted uncomfortably as he realized that there was a purpose to the conversation. Because he couldn’t ever remember the man talking to him on purpose, not after Kon accidentally created a mess of massive proportions in the kitchen when Dick asked him to help bake a cake for Cassie and earned his ire. Although that was just the ice cream on the pie. And what? He knew there was something more to the sentences about roses, but he didn’t know what. It was like he was in school again being told to analyze a poem. And Kon had no clue what the lines meant at all.

Kon cringed when Mr. Pennyworth held the shears up, the sunlight cascading onto the sharpness of the blades and the point. But Mr. Pennyworth merely said, “would you like to cut one?”

He nervously accepted the scissors, nearly dropping them. Mr. Pennyworth pointed to a bush, and Kon carefully studied it. He cut off one with Mr. Pennyworth’s assurances and placed it in a basket.

“M-may I take one for Tim?”

There was brief flicker in Mr. Pennyworth’s eyes.

“You may, Master Kent. It seems a sight better than the room full of wildflowers you left for Master Tim.”

Kon swallowed hard. “Oh?”

Mr. Pennyworth nodded and looked at Kon directly.

“I am not usually so forward, but if you should harm Master Tim in anyway, you can be assured that kryptonite is the last thing you shall be worried about. Now, if you will excuse me, I must prepare breakfast.”

Kon freaked out. He was probably going to get kryptonite in his waffles.


End file.
